Subwoofers


I'm doing research on which subwoofers to pair with my Magnepan MG-IIIA's.   Do you have any recommendations. 

Thanks 
Mike 
zardozmike

Showing 3 responses by bdp24

The Rythmik subs are gaining a reputation as working well with Maggies. A couple of guys with MG-IIIA's have expressed their satisfaction with the F12 and F15 models on the company's forum at AVS. I use the Rythmik/GR Research OB/Dipole Sub with my Eminent Technology LFT-8b's and Quads, but they're not for everyone. Read about that sub on the GR Research website---it's very special, and especially good with planar speakers.
Every Rythmik sub is hard to beat at it's price point, including the L12. Direct-Servo Feedback (at $539!) among it's highly-designed strengths. Brian Ding is not your average designer.

Mike, at what frequency are you crossing-over to the subs, and with what slope? The lower the frequency and the faster the slope (the Rythmik plate amp offers 24dB/octave), the less the subs need to be close to the Maggies. If you put your room dimensions into one of the room mode calculators on the 'net, you can see where the low-pressure areas in your room will be. Put the subs there for the lowest amount of "room boom" your space will produce. Then adjust the phase control on the plate amps for the best alignment between subs and speakers. If you want as much tactile feeling from them as possible, place the subs near your listening position!

The higher you cross-over, the cleaner your Maggies (and their power amp) will be. The lower you cross-over, the more of the Maggie mid-bass will you keep. Rythmik's are as close as you can get to the Maggie slam, but there's nothing like panel bass! I will be soon be setting up my Tympani T-IV's, using the four bass panels of the pair as mid-woofers, with Rythmik F15HP's for only 40Hz and below.